UK

29th August 2007

11:30 PM — Stonewall Cymru is launching a new community activism campaign ahead of Saturday's Mardi Gras in Cardiff.The Shout OUT campaign will encourage the LGBT community to have their say about gay life in Wales and will tackle issues such as hate crimes, health care, education and employment.Cardiff's Lesbian and Gay Mardi Gras is set to draw massive crowds this weekend.

11:30 PM — The fourth Reading Pride event is due to take place next weekend.The event was set up to celebrate the LGBT community, to ensure a sense of belonging and build strong and positive relations between people of different backgrounds, whilst working towards equality and inclusion in Reading and its surrounding areas.

11:30 PM — Following reports of police harassment at Cornwall's first gay Pride, Aaron PiperDiversity Manager for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly has issued this statement to PinkNews.co.uk:"I would like to take this opportunity to reply to the article posted on PinkNews.co.uk entitled 'Cornish police accused of homophobia at Pride.'

11:34 AM — The broadcasting watchdog has heavily criticised two homophobic outbursts broadcast on talk radio station Talksport - both of them from presenters.Ofcom said that a bizarre series of comments from Mike Mendoza in May comparing gay people to paedophiles were highly offensive.The radio station said that Mendoza had been suspended for a week after the incident.

11:27 AM — Peter Tatchell comments on Nigeria's treatment of gay peopleThe arrest on 5 August of 18 men at a private party in the northernstate of Bauchi is the latest incident in a wave of on-goinghomophobic persecution in Nigeria - much of which is incited byChristian bishops and Muslim imams.Bauchi is a predominantly Muslim region which has adopted Sharia(Islamic) law. Police officers acted on a tip-off from the HisbahIslamic anti-vice squad of the Bauchi Sharia Commission. They seizedthe men, aged 18 to 22, in rooms at the Benko Hotel in Bauchi.

11:27 AM — Chart-topping singer-songwriter, Mika, has been nominated for the prestigious BT Digital Music Awards 2007.Under the category of 'Best Pop Artist in association with TV Hits', the Beirut-born singer will be up against Natasha Bedingfield, Simon Webb, Lil Chris and The Hoosiers for the award.The 23-year-old's hit single Grace Kelly spent weeks at the top of the charts and his debut album Life In Cartoon Motion has sold half a million copies since it was released in February this year.

11:27 AM — One in four women would consider having sex with another woman according to a new online survey of the nation's female sex lives.Ninety-one per cent of the women questioned described themselves as either heterosexual or straight in the survey, but 26 per cent admitted that they would consider having sex with a women, or that they had fantasised about it.Of more than 200 women questioned in the survey, conducted by lesbian personals site GaydarGirls.com, seven per cent admitted they had had sex with another woman.

11:27 AM — As the tenth anniversary of the death of Princess Diana approaches, the chief executive of National AIDS has spoken of the ground-breaking work the 'people's princess' did for people living with HIV and AIDS.In the early 1990s, when HIV and AIDS were surrounded by hysteria and prejudice, Diana become patron of the National AIDS Trust, the UK's leading independent policy and campaigning voice on HIV and AIDS.She was patron of the National AIDS Trust from 1991 until her death in 1997.

11:27 AM — BBC3 has commissioned eight documentaries for its third Body Image season, including the story of an 18-year-old trans woman who travels to Thailand to undergo genital surgery.BBC3 will follow up last season's Lucy: Teen Transsexual with Lucy: Teen Transsexual in Thailand, which continues the story of 18-year-old Lucy Parker as she travels to Thailand to undergo male-to-female genital reconstruction surgery to bring her body into harmony with her gender identity.Lucy has already undergone two years of hormone treatment, psychological analysis and surgery, making her one of Britain's youngest transsexual women.

11:27 AM — GaydarRadio and the Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) have joined forces on a mission to clean up two of London's most popular cruising grounds.The Keep It Clean action day is set to take place in London this Sunday 2nd September.GaydarRadio and THT are teaming up with LGBT police liaison officers and volunteers to promote the event.Hampstead Heath and Clapham Common are famous cruising locations among gay men, as was popularised by the recent TV drama Clapham Junction.

11:27 AM — Stonewall have begun compiling their 2008 Workplace Equality Index, which lists the UK's top 100 employers for gay people.Participating in the Index is a key tool in demonstrating an organisation's commitment to diversity.It is read by many of Britain's 1.7 million gay employees and 3.6 million gay consumers.By tangibly giving credit for improvements, it shows employees that the organisations they work in take diversity and their staff seriously.

28th August 2007

3:47 PM — The GFest arts festival, due to begin in November, is starting to whip up international artistic interest as it begins to receive submissions from across the globe.The event, sponsored in part by PinkNews.co.uk, aims to provide a platform for LGBT artists to express themselves.Divided into three broad categories, the festival will show short film screenings, performance events and a visual arts exhibition.

3:05 PM — Cornwall's first Gay Pride event earned rave reviews from those who attended, despite complaints of police harassment.Following a unanimous vote by Cornwall Pride's steering committee for police to not be involved in the event, a committee member was promptly arrested and detained for 16 hours before being released without charge.The arrest comes as gay activists in Cornwall persist in calling on local forces to address the homophobia in their ranks.

2:25 PM — An estimated 250,000 people took to the streets of Manchester last weekend to celebrate the culmination of eleven days of Pride events.After 78 hours of partying at the Big Weekend, a solemn candlelit vigil was held to remember all those whose lives have been affected by HIV/AIDS yesterday.The opening event of the weekend was a civil partnership ceremony for ten couples at Marriott Victoria Albert Hotel.

12:15 PM — On Thursday a pilot project which aims to tackle the problem of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people facing domestic abuse in Scotland will be launched.The Scottish government is funding the project as part of its national strategy on domestic abuse.There are at least 500,000 LGBT people living in Scotland. Approximately 1 in 4 of them will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime, which parallels the experience of heterosexual women in Scotland.

11:20 AM — Former Scottish First Minister Jack McConnell has been openly challenged by senior Malawian politicians over his support for gay rights before he moves there as High Commissioner.The head of the main opposition party in Malawi - the United Democratic Front - said Mr McConnell's support for the repeal of Section 28 and civil unions meant he was an unsuitable person to act on behalf of the country."To have a man who supports gay rights to come to Malawi is dangerous for us," Friday Jumbe said.

10:41 AM — The city of Venice has supported the decision of the Italian government to offer asylum to a lesbian due to be deported back to Iran today.Pegah Emambakhsh is currently being detained by British officials. Her sexual orientation and her past life in Iran may lead to her being executed.Even if she is not sentenced to death, she is likely to be prosecuted and tortured by Iran's religious officials.

26th August 2007

10:23 AM — The Sunday Mirror has claimed that Spice Girl, Melanie Brown, known as Mel B had a two year relationship with two lesbians.The tabloid alleges that Mel B began a lesbian affair with mother-of-two Christa Parker after they met at the gates of the school where both women's' children are students. It's claimed that Ms Parker then introduced her to sex-toy vendor, Elizabeth Rodriguez, who joined Mel B and Ms Parker in bed for threesomes.

24th August 2007

12:50 PM — A spokesperson for Italian government has confirmed that they will grant ayslum to a lesbian woman due to be deported from the UK to Iran.Pegah Emambakhsh is currently being detained by British officials and she is scheduled for repatriation on Tuesday.Her sexual orientation and her past life in Iran may lead to her being executed.

10:22 AM — The Prime Minister was in the crowd at Wembley Stadium on Wednesday night to watch England lose to Germany, and his love of football is well-known.Now Gordon Brown is being urged to show his support for the World Cup, which is being hosted in England next year.Not the over-rated FIFA event, of course, but the International Gay and Lesbian Football Association (IGLFA) World Championship, which kicks off in exactly one year's time today.

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